U.S. agents try to seize $1.2 million more in probe of ex-Mexican treasurer

The CVS Pharmacy located at 20203 Stone Oak Boulevard is allegedly owned by Hector Javier Villanueva, a former Coahuilan state treasurer, who is under investigation for falsifying documents to borrow $222 million in state credit and then shuffling the money to his family in the United States.

Photo By Courtesy photo

Hector Javier Villarreal, ex-Coahuila treasurer, was briefly detained in East Texas in February.

Photo By Foto por Harry Cabluck/Associated Press

Ex-Coahuila Gov. Humberto Moreira stepped down as PRI chief after the arrest of Hector Javier Villarreal.

More Information

Federal authorities are trying to keep more than $1.2 million in a brokerage account of a company linked to a former treasurer of neighboring Coahuila state in Mexico as part of a money-laundering investigation.

The company is also listed as the owner of a pair of commercial properties in Brownsville that the feds are trying to seize.

The forfeiture case is the latest development in a series of attempts by law enforcement to seize an additional $6.5 million in bank accounts, and a dozen properties in San Antonio, South Padre Island and the Rio Grande Valley, worth $20 million. Prosecutors have said in court documents that the properties were bought with laundered money.

When those filings were made public in the spring, state officials said Villarreal faced criminal charges, but Bexar County prosecutors said Friday that no charges have been filed.

The $6.5 million and the properties, which include a $1.2 million Stone Oak home, a CVS pharmacy in Stone Oak and the North Pointe Retail Center at Redland Road and U.S. 281, have been linked to companies run by people associated with Villarreal.

He is under investigation in Mexico over claims that he falsified documents to borrow more than $220 million on the credit of the state of Coahuila, then shuffled the money to family members, including some in the U.S.

The properties, according to court documents, are owned by companies created by Lorenzo Schuessler Jr., 37, a San Antonio businessman and former real estate agent who is related through marriage to Villarreal.

Peninsula South Padre is more directly connected to Coronado, who is married to Villarreal's sister, a court affidavit said. Coronado is alternately listed as manager and registered agent.

In March, agents with the DEA and Texas attorney general's office were investigating $3.25 million in three wire transfers to accounts held by Peninsula, which listed an address at 23930 Spring Scent in San Antonio and a second address at 780 S. Central Ave. in Brownsville, the affidavit said.

The agents found that Villarreal, 41, and his wife, Maria Teresita Botello, made the original offer on the Spring Scent home and that Schuessler signed at closing as their legal representative. At the time of purchase, in 2009, the home was valued at $575,000 and was bought with cash, the affidavit said.

Along with the properties in San Antonio and the bank accounts, the feds are seeking forfeiture of properties owned by Villarreal's family members in the Valley.

They're going after a condo unit on South Padre Island and a carwash in Harlingen. In Brownsville, they're trying to seize a house and several commercial properties, including an unfinished apartment complex, a gas station and another carwash at the corner of Boca Chica Boulevard and Padre Highway, a busy intersection home to a number of chain restaurants and stores.

Villarreal, a former computer equipment salesman who went into government service in 2008, was arrested in Mexico in October 2011 and was freed after posting bail of 10 million pesos, about $769,000.

In December 2011, former Coahuila Gov. Humberto Moreira stepped down as chief of the Institutional Revolutionary Party — whose presidential candidate won this year's election — because of Villarreal's arrest and claims in Mexico that Coahuila's massive debt was due to plundering of the state coffers by officials during Moreira's leadership.

Shortly after his release on bail, Villarreal came to the U.S.

The affidavit accuses Villarreal of laundering money he obtained via the wire transfers, but neither he, Coronado, Schuessler nor Botello has been charged.

Villarreal made headlines in February after he, Botello, 28, and Coronado were arrested in East Texas. Sheriff's deputies reported finding $67,000 in cash in the 2011 Mercedes SUV they were driving, which was registered to Schuessler. The affidavit said the trio's stories were inconsistent, and they were turned over to Homeland Security agents, who let them go.

Days later, the Mexican government issued Interpol warrants for Villarreal's arrest.

Their whereabouts are unknown.

In March, the Bexar County district attorney filed a lawsuit seeking to keep $6.5 million that the DEA and Texas AG's office seized from bank accounts linked to ALPES Group LLC and Toyland LLC, companies the government alleges Schuessler controlled for Villarreal. Only Schuessler and his companies are fighting the seizures.